All-time State Records

[Rob]

I wanted to find out which presidential candidates scored the highest percentages in each state, from the beginning of time through today. Some of the results may be surprising. Without further ado...

Andrew Jackson

Tennessee (95%), Missouri (100%), Mississippi (100%), Alabama (100%), Georgia (100%), Illinois (68%, beating Harding by 0.2%), Indiana (67%), North Carolina (85%), Virginia (75%). He was the hero of the frontier South and West. It also didn't hurt that in several states- I think you can guess which ones- he was the only candidtae on the ballot.

Abraham Lincoln

Kansas (79%), West Virginia (68%, beating LBJ by 0.3%). In the midst of civil war, many Lincoln-haters in these states were off in the Confederate Army, or refused to participate in United States elections. Thus the electorates were overwhelmingly in favor of the "National Union" ticket.

Horatio Seymour

Kentucky (75%), Maryland (67%). Majorities of voters in these former slave states had backed the US over the Confederacy, but now that the war was over, they voted against civil rights.

Ulysses Grant

Nebraska (71%, beating Reagan by 0.1%). Shrug. A state settled mostly by Republicans voted overwhelmingly for a Republican President winning a landslide.

Grover Cleveland

Florida (85%). In an era marked by rampant vote fraud, a Democrat did particularly well with no Republican on the ballot, against a Populist who was despised by the state's rulers.

William Jennings Bryan

Montana (80%), Idaho (78%), Nevada (81%), Utah (83%), Colorado (85%). Silver-mining states loved the pro-silver candidate in an election year dominated by the issue of silver.

William McKinley

New Hampshire (69%; he and Reagan polled exactly 68.66%, but McKinley gets the "victory" because Bryan ran much worse than Mondale), Vermont (80%). The other side of the coin. What helped Bryan in the West hurt him in the Northeast, where he was seen as a crazy hick.

Theodore Roosevelt

Minnesota (74%), Oregon (67%), Pennsylvania (68%), South Dakota (71%), Washington (70%). Westerners loved the "cowboy" Roosevelt, especially since he ran to the rhetorical left of his Democratic opponent. GOP stronghold Pennsylvania hated free-trader Parker.

Warren Harding

Iowa (71%), New Jersey (68%), North Dakota (78%), Wisconsin (71%). States with large numbers of German-Americans and farmers were in revolt, thanks to Wilson's war against Germany.

Calvin Coolidge

Michigan (75%), Maine (72%). At the height of the Roaring Twenties, auto-manufacturing, Republican Michigan loved the incumbent Republican, and so did heavily Republican Maine.

[Rob]

Herbert Hoover

Delaware (65%), Ohio (68%). These Protestant, business-friendly states voted against Catholicism and free trade.

Franklin Roosevelt

California (67%), Texas (88%), Louisiana (93%), South Carolina (99%), Arizona (70%), New Mexico (63%), Arkansas (86%). In the midst of Depression, FDR ran best in the impoverished Southwest and in one-party southern states.

Lyndon Johnson

Connecticut (68%), Hawaii (79%), Massachusetts (76%), New York (69%), Rhode Island (81%). LBJ nuked Goldwater in the dovish Northeast, which the Arizona Senator said should be "sawed off" from the rest of the country- and in distant, government-dependent Hawaii.

Richard Nixon

Oklahoma (74%). God-fearing, patriotic Sooners just said no to "acid, amnesty and abortion."

Ronald Reagan

District of Columbia (93%). A candidate with unusual appeal among African-Americans and educated professionals does unusually well in a city populated largely by blacks and federal employees.

[memphis]

I believe your last entry has an error

[Rob]

I believe your last entry has an error

Haha, that's actually pretty funny. Obviously I somehow deleted Reagan's portion (he set records in Alaska and Wyoming).

[Antonio the Sixth]

Really great ! Very interesting.

But I guess the last is Mondale instead of Reagan.

[memphis]

Really great ! Very interesting.

But I guess the last is Mondale instead of Reagan.

It's Obama.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Really great ! Very interesting.

But I guess the last is Mondale instead of Reagan.

It's Obama.

Really ? Didn't hemagined he broke this record.

So what's Reagan's record States ?

[memphis]

Really great ! Very interesting.

But I guess the last is Mondale instead of Reagan.

It's Obama.

Really ? Didn't hemagined he broke this record.

So what's Reagan's record States ?

Alaska, Wyoming

[Hash]

Really ? Didn't hemagined he broke this record.

Why? It's not surprising that a candidate whose largest appeal is to blacks and rather liberal urbanites would do extremely well in a 100% liberal urban-60% black area.

[k-onmmunist]

What was the worst the Democrats ever did in the South from 1872-1948?

[RI]

What was the worst the Democrats ever did in the South from 1872-1948?

The Democrats never won all the states in the South until 1880, and the Solid South didn't really begin in fullness until 1888. Compared to later years, any time William Jennings Bryan ran the South was not quite as solid, especially in 1896. Nevertheless, the obvious answer is 1928.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Bump, that was an interesting thread.

[feeblepizza]

Great thread. Jackson won 100% in states....great.....